The composition of the song – “Lose Yourself” was written by me two years ago. I was in a bad state of mind and position away from my mother who was here in the United Kingdom. I did not see her for about 8 years and at that time I was suffering abuse and maltreatment and the only way I could feel better was to explain how I felt musically when I would reunite with her and feel happy again.

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State the name of your producer and elaborate on the production of the song.

I recorded my two singles with a recording label Regent Street Artistes and the name of my producer there is Cornel Sorian. The duration for the production of this song was about 4 months in which after it was mixed and mastered. I had to book a session once every month because of my education and I had to balance at the same time due to financial hardships. Me and Cornel worked together to ensure that we really brought the song to life by joining heads together to improve the sound and complexity thereby giving it that contemporary jazz, hip hop and smooth sound.

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Go into details on the lyrics of the song.
The lyrics of the song was based on how I felt… my sadness and the bad state of mind mentally and emotionally. I wrote the song when I rejoined my mum in the United Kingdom. The song actually had more meaning because the lyrics “I’m here to put the past way” tries to shed light on the fact most people have a bad or nasty past but we need to move on and let abuse, hatred, suicidal thoughts, pain and so on be bygones. I wrote it to captivate the attention of people who need some sort seal on the big hole that was left in their hearts. It is to encourage them into forgetting the bad aspect of their past and move on, have fun “lose themselves”(freedom, exempted from sadness) that is a quick. Description of what is it about.

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Elaborate on your music career.
My music career- I know it sounds cliché but, music has always been what I wanted to do from a young age, however we are in a society where we are expected to work 9-5 jobs and have a profession. I am currently studying Health and Social Care now and I was recording at the studio at that time as well as working. Balancing it is a big deal, so I have decided to go into university and focus on a music degree and work towards building up myself in the music industry as well develop new techniques for my vocals and songwriting.

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Brief us on how you are reaching fans with your music.

I have got accounts on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat which are the most prominently means of passing music across. I am more active on Instagram because of the high number of people using it. Often I promote any songs I am working on or about to release on Snapchat and I do sing a lot on there. I would usually play myself in the background singing to a song that I really like.

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Discuss your motive behind making music.

Music is my life! It is something I have always wanted to do if I’m being honest. I write for people who feel like I feel or who I can be emphatic with including those who have suffered depression, bullying, social anxiety and other problems of life. My motive behind music is to encourage those in that position and let them know I go through it as well and that we will all get through it by settling our minds with positives and not let negative aspects shadow our lives.

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Discuss the process of your songwriting.

Songwriting for me is something I would class as one of the most important parts of my lyrics. Most times I get inspiration just by looking at my environment, doing my research and being aware of changes going on in our society for example; corruption. I also get inspiration from my past experiences and how it has molded me as a person.

So, usually a typical day of songwriting will start from me making beats or sounds by humming and using certain mouth movements to create sound, then I’d record it on my phone and play it back again, start finding lyrics to match the song and create a chorus under 2-3 minutes. Me writing the solo for the song at the same time would matter on my level of inspiration.

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Brief us about your work and achievement so far in your music career.

Back in The Gambia I released my first single called “Drain your life” in Minka records with my two friends and this was back when I was 14 years old. When I came to the United Kingdom I also recorded my two singles “Show You” and “Lose Yourself” by RS label and released it on prominent platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon and so on.

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Tell us your opinion on using rhymes dictionary or writing software to develop lyrics.

I would say lyrics come as a result of inspiration and inspiration could come in so many ways. Personally, I go on the Internet sometimes and find a very big word, go to the dictionary find the meaning and make a song about that specific thing. The dictionary I would say increases your vocabulary and use of English words. I can say that because I am a big fan of English myself anything concerning poetry or rhyming words are all derived from English words which could be found in the dictionary.

Rhymes I believe are very important too because it is a combination of words that sound alike or having a kind rhythm. It is important in this generation as it is deemed as “cool” or “dope” to have rhymes in lyrics especially as a rapper it is seen as a skill because you are able to combine words that rhyme and yet the lyrics still makes sense.

I believe that writing software is very efficient and fast and it is meant to help writers compose faster. I mean it is kind of like a “mini studio” or Microsoft Word for composition of music. That way you can articulate every single idea, lyric, voice-overs and extra sounds you may want added to your original voice as well as use certain sounds or instrumentals. It is a faster way to get music composed and a great and creative way of doing it.

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Discuss what is old and what is new in the music industry as in overall changes.

I guess there is a lot of sexualization of young teenagers these days. Artistes who want to sell music have to put on a sexual dress in a certain way to grab people’s attention. It’s more or less like a “low-key” trend that no one wants to admit to.

Also, nowadays the media has encompassed the music industry so much that music is being sold electronically such as with various platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and so on before it would have just been mixtapes and selling CDs and so the social media is another powerful way to promote music.

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Elaborate on how you prepare yourself for a recording session.

I feel I try to come with the realization that I need to pour out my heart properly as it will interlink with whatever sound or instrumental is playing and so this makes me in turn practice on techniques and other vocal ideas I could add to my song during the studio session in order to pass my point across in a unique manner.

I also pray because before I do anything and speak positively as this helps to counter my anxiety and makes me more confident to show the new vocal techniques or lyrics I have.

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Brief us on your preference in terms of tempo as in up-tempo, mid-tempo or slow tempo.

I don’t have any loyalties to any kind of tempo I use in my music or like to hear. It would all depend on the fashion of the lyrics or how the rhythm goes. It could also depend on what kind of point you want to pass across. If you are depicting sadness or heartbreak I guess it would be much more slow or sluggish in some ways whereas depicting happiness could be up-tempo and it could go neutral for mid-tempo.

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Discuss your shows or live performance.

For this time being, I haven’t done any shows or performances recently. However, I would be performing on my awards evening as my graduation from college to university is fast approaching.

I have entered and performed at a few talent shows in my life including that of my school back in Nigeria in which I sang with a group of friends and also in Gambia in which I wrote a verse as I was invited to perform by the head of department in Music at my former school.

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Discuss working as a full time or part time musician.

In my case, currently studying Health and Social Care and realizing I need to get back on track of my actual destiny, which is music, it is hard. Because you are left to balance work, heaps of course work and then try to focus on building a music career.

This is the reason why I have decided to venture into full time music and study in university in the hope that even before I leave university or start, I could have built my fan base and reached out to a lot of people out there suffering from life trials with my music.

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Send a message across to your fans and supporters.

What I would say to those who support me is that because of their support, it has pushed me to devote my time into full-time music and I am most grateful to them for shedding light on me and acknowledging my talent and encouraging me to do work towards it.

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Discuss the story line of the song.

“Lose yourself” starts with when I explain to everyone that I made a choice to do my own music despite the discouragements in my life as it was a life chance, I persevered and pushed my way to make sure my music was heard somehow or at least start from somewhere and invested finances in that.

The verse of the rap contains lyrics that tell the story of how I was moving away from the plan and vision that I was destined to have and the friends I had at that time never gave me good counsel and then I talk about my progress as an individual and how I am confident enough to now stand on my own without any manly figure in my life controlling me or discouraging me. Then I jump directly into the lyrics which is what makes the whole song.

The chorus relates to whatever struggles I had faced in the past and I am saying that whatever struggles I or anyone has gone through is now bygones and so which would release any grip that our past has over us and have fun, be happy and live life.

The bridge then emphasizes on the fact that even with forgetting the past; it takes time and healing and so I am literally just calling out for healing because everyone of us still need to heal from our emotional scars.

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Tell us what makes this song unique from others.
This song was written from deep experiences in my heart that I wanted to speak out on. I would like to believe it is more special than any of my other songs because it depicts true joy, happiness and the overwhelming waves of sadness washing away. The inspiration comes from the most divine experiences of my past on which I hold very dear to me.

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Tell us the subject matter of most of your compositions.

Most of my songs are written from waves of my experiences so it includes; sadness, happiness, joy, lack of self-esteem and contentment. I write about these because I believe the world is a place where depression, sadness and other mental illnesses occur due to traumatic circumstances which emotional scars affect us individuals; some more than the others.

The subject matter of my composition is mostly finding peace and finding myself as an individual in the midst of the dangers and trials of this world.